Study 2. acrylic on canvas. Last week, artist Martha Marshall wrote a post titled Art for the In Between Times, where she discusses an art journal. I have never been the kind of artist to keep one. I paint in a very direct way and I don't do a lot of sketching, planning, etc. But lately, I've found myself needing not just to explore, but to explore quickly. This is hard to do when you are confined to a canvas all the time. A canvas takes a lot of time and preparation - building a stretcher, stretching it and priming it. So this weekend, with the art journal idea in my head, I picked up some canvas paper. It's easy. It's primed and ready to go, for oil paint or acrylic. Yesterday I cut it to size (4 1/2 x 6") and created 8 little acrylic works. Eight! It was wonderful. While technically not an art journal, it is the closest I think I will get to one. I hope to do many more studies in the future. Thanks, Martha!
Here are a selection of the works:
Study 4. acrylic on canvas.
Study 6. acrylic on canvas.
Study 8. acrylic on canvas.
Study 7. acrylic on canvas.
Study 1. acrylic on canvas.
I will pose the same question that Martha did - to my fab artist readers - Do you keep an art journal? Or create preparatory works?
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Lauren, my work has always been very direct and intuitive too. But I am hereby committing to exploring with some simple sketches and studies, hopefully on a regular basis.
ReplyDeleteWhat I love so much about your work is that you express nature with elegant simplicity using shape and color and light. These little studies have it down too! Love them.
Thanks so much for the mention in your post.
Thank you for the inspiration (and kind words). I'm very excited to continue making these and I too make the commitment to create consistent studies!
ReplyDeleteAlso, thanks so much for stopping by and commenting :) Your work is just lovely and I look forward to seeing more!
I loved this post! I am one of those spontaneous folks too! After finishing this last series, I was sort of pooped. I started doing small, quick collages, and busted through some ideas too! I think we are on a similar path! The studies are wonderful by the way. Now off to Martha's!
ReplyDeleteI hear ya, Mary. I'm a little tired too, and am just in need of pushing through, figuring out what my next step is! I would love to see those little collages, do you have them up anywhere?
ReplyDeleteLovely. The thing about journals is that you can take them with you, look through them any time, jot notes on your experiments, be inspired by what you put in them .. mistakes and disasters are no big deal, in fact, they're great in your journal because you learn from them .. and you can always rip the pages out, paint over them .. or simply keep them as humble reminders :-)
ReplyDeleteYes, Gypsy, those are all good points...lol, yes I have many finished paintings that act as "humble reminders"! I think it would be better to have less finished pieces act as such, and more studies :)
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